As a self-taught artist from Russia, he drew illustrations for fairy tales and achieved worldwide recognition

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is believed that books are akin to living things. All of them have their own mood, character, purpose and philosophy. Therefore, in the modern world of the book industry, well and interestingly illustrated editions have always been in trend. This is especially true for literature for the youngest readers. Today in our publication we will talk about an amazing self-taught artist who creates magical illustrations for fairy tales and children's stories - Igor Oleinikov, who, 42 years later, took over the palm from the artist Tatyana Mavrina and received the Andersen International Prize.

Recall that the Hans Christian Andersen Prize, which is also called the Nobel Prize for Children's Authors, is traditionally awarded to the best children's writer and illustrator every two years. It is the most prestigious children's literature award in the world. It was established in 1956, and the illustrator Tatyana Mavrina remained its sole owner from Russia from 1976 until 2018.

Read more about the artist's work: The main artist of our childhood: Why Tatyana Mavrina's illustrations were not taken to print for many years

And in 2018, the International Council for Children's Books announced a list of six nominees for the award, among which was the name of our compatriot illustrator Igor Oleinikov. The evaluation criteria were the aesthetic and artistic qualities of the works, as well as the novelty of all the author's works, the ability to see from the point of view of a child and the ability to awaken children's curiosity.

The name of the winner was announced at a press conference at the International Children's Book Fair in Bologna. It was he who became an artist from Russia, who has absolutely no special artistic education. Although, looking at the talented professional work of the master, it is hard to believe in it.

A few words about the laureate

Igor Oleinikov (1953) - Russian artist, animator, cartoonist, illustrator of children's books. Born in the city of Lyubertsy near Moscow, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Engineering. After graduation he worked in his specialty at the design institute "Giprokauchuk". In 1979 he got a job at the Soyuzmultfilm studio as an assistant art director, where he immediately got into the creative group of the cartoon "The Mystery of the Third Planet" directed by Roman Kachanov.

This was followed by "The Last Hunt" (1982), "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" (1984), took part in the work on the tape "Caliph-Stork". In 2000, Oleinikov took the Grand Prix at the Golden Fish Animation Festival. As a production designer, he created the films Sherlock Holmes and I (1987), The Tale of a Stupid Husband (1986), The Crawl (1987), The Shoemaker and the Mermaid (1989), In Search of Oluen (1990) and etc.

Since 1986, in parallel with his work in animation, Oleinikov collaborated with the children's magazines "Misha", "Tramway", "Kucha-Mala", "Sesame Street", "Ball Lightning", "Good night, kids!" giraffe”, as well as with various book publishers. Among his amazing works are illustrations for books: "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, "The Hobbit, or There and Back again" by J. R. R. Tolkina, “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” by E. Raspe, “Different Fish” and “Different Cats” by B. Zakhoder, “The Fairytale History of Navigation” and “The Fairytale History of Aeronautics” by A. Usachev and many others.

Since 2001 he has been actively cooperating with foreign publishing houses, and since 2004 Oleinikov has been painting at the Solnechny Dom studio. In 2006, he received a diploma for his creative work at the Tallinn Triennial of Baltic Illustration.

And two years later, the artist decided to completely move away from animation, and since then has been working only as an illustrator.

Creation

For 30 years of his creative career, Igor Oleinikov has illustrated more than 80 books. The technique in which the master works is gouache, paper, - says the illustrator himself.

Looking at the magical illustrations made in an amazingly soft technique, one gets the impression that Igor Oleinikov draws not just with his soul, but with his very soul. There is so much light, warmth, kindness and true talent in them that when in contact with his works, everyone receives a stream of radiant healing energy and an extraordinary aesthetic pleasure. Each artist's illustration is a full-fledged picture that can be contemplated endlessly. Fascinating compositional plots literally draw the reader into the wonderful world of the artist's imagination, who, following the text, leads his own dialogue.

In addition, the artist managed to break stereotypes and established canons with his work, showing that the classical approach to illustration is not the only possible one, that there may be other levels in the text, that, in the end, the positive hero may not be so positive, but negative. - not so negative.

The artist manages to find things in the text that are invisible even for a thoughtful and attentive reader. Recently, a new approach has appeared in the work of the illustrator. Now each illustration is so truthful and charismatic, it does not embellish the characters and their actions, as well as the events taking place. As a result, the viewer sees a completely different reading of fairy tales or stories that are familiar to all of us.

- says the artist about the process of his creativity.

His works are literally imbued with an atmosphere of fabulous charm and warmth, the entire space in the compositions is saturated with semantic meaning, and the characters are displayed with warm kind humor.

And finally, I would like to point out that the role of an illustrator in the book is perhaps the most similar to that of a director. Literary text for him is a topic for irrepressible imagination and improvisation. And by and large, the professionalism of an illustrator lies not so much in his ability to draw as in his ability to find the key to any manuscript. And with this, Oleinikov never had any problems. Each of his works is a whole discovery in the fairy world, for which little readers and their parents love him.

Having got acquainted with the work of this outstanding master of illustrations, you understand more than ever that a real artist is not only the skill and experience gained in educational institutions - it is, first of all, the state of mind of a person who has something to say to his viewer.

Despite the fact that in our time in many European countries book graphics are not considered art, but rather are located on the margins of the applied arts industry, many artists prove the opposite with their work. Thus, the Dugins' spouses, artists from Russia, turned the consciousness of the Germans about the art of illustration.